Mixmag Asia Radio: Indie dance & disco from Jakarta's Cyda

Cyda's first glance at electronic music came through his high school love for the 8-bit sounds of chiptune. It was the base from which he knew music was always going to play an intrinsic role in his life. As a young adult, Cyda shifted from his hometown to head to the big city, Jakarta, from where he jolted a career in electronic music, bagging a Producer of the Year Paranoia Awards in 2017, and unleashing colourful releases on labels like Pogo House Records, Nothing But Records, Four Peas Recordings, 2b Records, Soul Shift Music and Rokum Records.

The Jakarta based artist has injected over 60 minutes of radiant, energetic and groove-centric disco vibes for this week's episode of Mixmag Asia Radio. Hit play below while discovering more about Cyda.

Where are you based and how did you get there?

Jakarta has been my base since 2012, I moved here from my hometown Bandung to develop my music career. It was here in Jakarta that my music career started out, by getting on air, and playing in local clubs and internationally.

What’s your favourite thing about the music scene there?

The underground scene community is very solid here, and it makes me happy to see the Jakarta scene picking up more on EBM, Italo disco and dark disco.

In five words, what do your DJ sets sound like?

Groovy, dark, uplifting, heavy, melodic

And in three words, how would you describe yourself?

Friendly, easy-going, hard-working

What recent trends in music have you been paying attention to? Have you caught onto them?

Lately, I've been paying attention to the indie dance sound from the 80s, because my music is very German-oriented. That indie dance vibe is strongly related to the Cyda brand :)

Are there any producers and DJs in Asia that have recently caught your attention?

Cherry Day from Vietnam is an awesome DJ. This girl gives off plenty of colourful vibes from her music, something I don’t hear too much in Asia.

Leland from Singapore is a new comer on the local scene but his selection of music is very good and I think now he is one of the rising local DJs.

Dazzle Drums from japan is a DJ duo, I really like their sets; they're so eclectic.

From pre to post pandemic, what has changed & what hasn’t changed about your life in the music world?

A lot has changed after the pandemic, because at the beginning of the pandemic all local and international nightclubs were closed. Day by day I tried to do business in the field of ornamental plants and sell plants to the export market. I have been in this business for two years and until now the business is still running. The pandemic was very memorable for me. Apart from the COVID-19 outbreak, it turned out that there was an opportunity to become a businessman.

Tell us about the inspiration behind this mix - what drove your thoughts and emotions, and how did you curate your selection?

Lately, I like to watch things that talk about outer space, either in movies or on YouTube. And that really triggered my musical inspirations, I started to apply interstellar sounds when curating songs, looking for dreamy and cosmic arp tones. I really like the sound of 80s synth pads, arpeggios and driving basslines. That's what inspired me to do this mix!

What equipment did you record this mix on?

A pair of Pioneer CDJ 2000 NXS2 and a DJM 900 NXS.

Where can we hear you playing next?

I will be playing in Bali in November and my next release will be out in December on Ritmo Fatale from France.